Archive for January, 2015

Wow! When we put out a plea to help us collect 100 quilts for the Forgotten People of the Navajo Nation by Christmas, you delivered. We were able to send more than 100 quilts for distribution. If you remember, many of these Navajo do not have heat in their homes, so quilts were desperately needed for the elderly and children.

Our Regional Coordinator, Sandi, who coordinated this delivery had posted several pictures of quilts that were sent for distribution. You can read about those photos from her December 22nd post on the blog. The following quilts were also sent for distribution to the Forgotten People. The quilts were made by the Prayers and Squares Quilting Group, Simsbury United Methodist Church, Simsbury, CT; Donna Sciandra, Karen Matheson and Carol T. If you hover over the pictures, you can see who made the quilts.

Right before Christmas, Marsha Monestersky delivered the quilts to the Navajo and sent pictures from the delivery. I will let the pictures speak for themselves. You will see many new moms and grandmothers receiving quilts for their children. Marsha also sent us this note.

Please find attached some photos of quilts we distributed that went far and wide on the Navajo Nation to children, grandchildren and the elderly

You are incredible and your quilts are amazing We will be giving out more quilts at Senior Citizens Centers and am thrilled to see how happy the people are to receive your incredible original quilts-artwork

Your quilts make the people feel loved. Have a Blessed New Year and Thank you!!!! Marsha

Many of you have helped us by making quilts for Syrian refugee children living in Jordan. We have partnered with Gleaning for the World in Virginia and the Salaam Cultural Center in Washington. Both of these organizations have been receiving our quilts and delivering them when they return to Jordan. We always try to have the partnering organizations take photos of the delivery, but as you can imagine, that can be very difficult in some cases. Rita Zawadieh of SCM sent us a thank you note with a collage picture of the deliveries her organization has made over the last year. Not only do they deliver our quilts, but also medical supplies and warm clothing, etc. This is the thank you note that Rita sent:

Hello all!

To the wonderful crafters that made 2014 such a prismatic year for us, thank you for warming our hearts and thousands of Syrians. We continue to be blown away by the compassion and effort put forth by you remarkable individuals.

I might have told some of you this before, but when I was growing up my aunts and grandma would often knit/crotchet or sew items for my siblings and I. Every time I open one of your boxes, I’m reminded of those memories in Syria. We treasured those handmade goods, so much so that even when we escaped to the States, my mother remembered to bring one or two sweaters along (as seen in my kindergarten school picture, not included below). In a time where entire families are displaced across borders, you all are that aunt or grandma providing warmth and love to these Syrian children.

From all of us at SCM, we made this as a thank you and in hopes you too will be reminded of the impact you made in 2014. We honestly can’t thank you enough, and we look forward to distributing anything else sent our way in 2015! Rita

We continue to collect quilts for the Syrian refugee children. Just last month, our Regional Coordinator, Linda Mullins-Spirio in VA collected 150 quilts to Gleaning for the World for their next shipment to Jordan. We will have a blog post soon about that delivery.
Finally, we worked with Dave Galaway who does work with Christ the Center Ministries Primary and Nursery School in Kampala, Uganda. We only found out about his need in early October, I believe, and he wondered if we could provide quilts for the children, but he needed them by the end of November. There are nearly 250 children at the school. To most people, that would seem an insurmountable task, but for our wonderful quilters, you came through. Ann Drake, our Regional Coordinator in CA, collected over 150 quilts for the children. You guys are unbelievable! By the way, we will be coordinating another delivery in May 2015 most likely.

We have not received pictures yet from that delivery, but I wanted to show you a few of the quilts that I sent. Now I have an apology, with the holidays approaching last year, I took some of the pictures of the quilts out of the back of my car before taking to FedEx for delivery. I had actually just picked them up from Linda Brammer who had quilted them so quickly for me. Well with that rush, I forgot to write down who made which quilts. There is a possibility that a few of the photos are probably not identified correctly; I am really sorry. The quilts were made by Barbara Peterson, Kim Bennett, Donna Sciandra and quilted by Linda Brammer and Barbara Peterson. If you click on each picture you can see the names.

QBB would like to wish all of you a very happy new year! We can’t thank all of you enough for your generosity to help these children with the love and warmth that these quilts give. Cheers! Tina

Hello Friends! With all the hustle and bustle of December happenings, Donna Dellacamera still had time to send me her Fat Quarter Challenge quilt!

Isn’t that a cute rail fence? Your quilts provide so much inspiration and they are all wonderful examples of creativity. It’s so much fun to see how you put them together and I always say, “Oh, I want to make one like this.” Now to get them actually made!

So it’s time to announce our monthly winner for the $25 gift certificate to the Fat Quarter Shop and that winner is…Rebecca Timm! Rebecca returned her finished quilt in November and that’s the sweet part of our new monthly drawing. Regardless of the month you return your quilt, you’re entered into every single drawing starting the month it’s returned all the way up to September’s grand prize drawing of $100! Of course, the quicker you turn it in, the more chances you have to win!! January is a great time to stay inside and get those projects finished!

Stay tuned for lots and lots of pictures of our recent initiatives in the upcoming weeks. You helped make 2014 a memorable year for Quilts Beyond Borders with all the love and quilts you’ve sent all over the world. Thank you so very much!